Method of making variegated balls



y c. w. BROWN 2,283,845

METHOD OF MAKING VARIEGATED BALLS I Filed Jan. 29, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR WITNESS ATTORNEYS y 1942- c. w. BROWN 2,283,845 v METHOD OF MAKING VARIEGATED BALLS I I Filed Jan. 29, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 WITNESS ATTORNEYS Patented May '19, 1942 ee or Clarence W. re, Chicago, ill. Application January as, race, Serial No. 316,254

' (cl. ia-ss) 5 mg in; My invention relates to the art oi manuiactur ing sponge rubber balls, and has among its cb-.

iects and advantages the provision of an improved method of designingthe, ball in'various color patterns.

In the past many attempts have been made to devise a color pattern for "ponge rubmr balls which would-withstand the wear incident to usage. The color patterns have been created by applying a coat of enamel to the surface of the ball. After a short period of use, the enamel cracks or wears ofi, thereby impairing the artistic appearance of the design.

According to my method, the color pattern is incorporated in the material oi the ball, whereby wear does not impair the artistic pattern.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. l is a view illustrating a ball constructedaccording to my method;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view along the line 2-8 of Fi 1;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view illustrating one step in the method of preparing the material of the ball; v 4

Fig. 4 is a perspective view illustrating another step in the prepa ation of the material;

the medium of gears 44 and 46. After extru sion, the material of the difierently colored sheets take the form of spirals it when the cord is viewed ln-cross section. However, the cord is extruded as a unit mass.

After the cordis extruded from the machine,

the exposed spiral or spirals 55 extend a considerable distance longitudinally of the cord which gives the cord the appearance of a more or less uniform color. To increase the visibility of the number of diiierently colored areas, the cord is slabbed longitudinally along lines it. In slabbing the cord, I expose a plurality of the spiral it in each of the fiat faces it, as indi= I cated at it in Fig. 4. I prefer to out the cord it into thirty six inch lengths before slabbing. After slabbing, the cord is cut into lengths or units of predetermined mass, eachlength repre- Fig.5 is a perspective view illustrating an I .ing between three eights and one half of an inch.

The number of differently colored sheets in the stack determines the nature of the color pattern in the finished ball. When the sheets are removed fro'm the warm-up mill,.the material is somewhat tacky and the sheets will adhere one to the other. After the requisite number oi sheets have been stacked according to Fig. 5, the com posite sheet or mass is severed longitudinally along lines it to provide strips iordelivery to a f tubing machine.

The strips are extruded from a tubing machine 32 to fashion a cord such as is indicated at it in Figs. 3 and 6. The strips are fed into the tubing machine 32 through the opening 3% and forced through the cylinder 36 of the machine by the usualscrew or auger for extruding the cord M through the die 38. The cord it may be extruded onto a conveyor 40, and the machine is driven through .the medium of a motor 52 through senting the material oi a ball. After severing the cord to provide units representing the material oi the individual balls, as illustrated in Fig. a, the ends and sides of each unit is notched at '22 and 2e respectively.

The units illustrated in Fig. 4 are. shaped to take the spherical form of Fig. i by placing the mass in a suitable mold. Such molds are well known in the art. The mold is placed in a hot press and heated for about fifteen minutes. The

method of converting the mass oi Fig. 4 to the spherical form of-Fig. i may conform to conventional methods of shaping sponge rubber balls.

Sponge rubber includes soda and stearic acid which cause expansion oi the rubber when heatled. As ,the unit arms; 4 is expanded within the spherical mold, a beautiful color pattern is attained. The end 2% of the unit of Fig. 4 appears in the form of a color pattern 26 in Fig. l. The spirals it exposed by the notches 22 and 23 appear in the form of patterns 28 and 2e respectively, while the spirals exposed at it appear at til. Various color patterns as a whole may be attained by varying the nature of the slabbing and the number and size of the notches 22 and 23.

My invention embodies a color. pattern incorporated in the material of the ballln such a manner that no amount of wear will impair the pattern. Patterns of various color combinations may be attained through the selection of the sheets it. The method of forming the pattern eliminates the necessity of applying enamel the ball alter shapingthe mass.-

' Having thus described certain embodiments of my invention in detail, it is, oi course, understood that I do not desire to limit the scope thereof to the. exact details set forth except insoiar as those details may be defined in the appended claims.

I claim: 7

1. The method of manufacturing a variegated ball which consists in uniting diflerently colored sheets of sponge rubber, passing the united sheets in strip form through an extruding machine to form a cord, severing the cord in predetermined lengths, and expanding the severed portions of the cord in a mold to shape the mass into spherical configuration.

2. The method of manufacturing variegated balls which consists in passing strips of diflerent- 1y colored sponge rubber through an extruding machine to form a cord, slabbing the cord extruded from the extruding machine, cutting the extruded cord into predetermined lengths, and expanding the lengths in a mold to shape the finished ball.

3. The method of manufacturing variegated balls which consists in passing differently colored sponge rubber through an extruding machine to form a cord, slabbing the cord formed form.

5. The method of manufacturing variegated balls which consists of grouping sponge rubber sheets of diflerent colors, shaping the sheets into the form of a cord in which the differently celored sheets appear in the form-of spirals when the cord is viewed in cross section, slabbing the cord and cutting the same into predetermined lengths, cutting notches in the lengths, and shapmg the lengths into spherical form. I

CLARENCE W. BROWN. 

